Latest News Articles by Ian McKay
Travel to Stonehenge via Skye
06 September 2021Many of the lots in a June 16 sale of books, maps and pictures held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Carlisle came from the collections of the late Dr George Kozikowski of Skye, a microbiologist, archaeologist and antiquarian of Polish descent.
Comics fulfil auction promise
06 September 2021Collection now up for sale was owned by soldier killed in Korea but kept safe by his brother
Buyer’s Noble intention pays off
06 September 2021Having secured his prize for a notably higher than estimate sum, the buyer of a ‘Fireball XLV’ artwork told Malcolm Phillips of Comic Book Auctions (19% buyer’s premium) that very few artworks by its creator, Mike Noble, ever come to auction.
British and Irish book auctions: September 7-23, 2021
06 September 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Rare copy of important work by proto-feminist bid to 10-times estimate
30 August 2021A recent sale in New York was led at $65,000 (£47,100) by a disbound but rare example of the work of Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-95).
British and Irish book auctions: August 31-September 19
30 August 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Rare and costly Ptolemaic prize discovered in Turin
30 August 2021Estimated at €50,000 but sold for €405,000 (£346,275) in a sale held in Turin by was a 1482 edition of Ptolemy’s Cosmographia.
From boy wizard to cat in a hat
30 August 2021New York sale maintains run of high JK Rowling prices while Dr Seuss surfaces also in UK
First book-form edition of Middlemarch sets record at Doyle
30 August 2021George Eliot’s much-admired novel 'Middlemarch…' made its first appearance in a parts issue in 1871.
Private press sector comes to the fore in Gloucestershire auction
23 August 2021Morris works and Sangorski & Sutcliffe bindings stand out in single-owner collection
Expert shows cutting-edge skills
23 August 2021In terms of improvement on expectations, the most successful lot at a Ketterer Kunst (25% buyer’s premium) sales earlier this year comprised early 19th century paper-cuts.
Records of doomed North Pole balloon expedition sold at Swedish sale
23 August 2021Two unpublished diaries sold in Sweden related to Salomon August Andrée’s ill-fated attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon.
British and Irish book auctions: August 24-September 11, 2021
23 August 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Gospels manuscript makes 30-times guide price at Sotheby's
16 August 2021Armenian manuscript demolishes estimate to take six figures in London saleroom
Treasure of an ‘impoverished enthusiast’ sells at Bloomsbury Auctions
16 August 2021A richly illuminated leaf from a late 15th century manuscript account of the life of St Catherine sold at a high-estimate £30,000 at Bloomsbury Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).
19th century bartender's 'bible' makes record in San Francisco sale
16 August 2021Published in 1862, one exceptional lot in a Californian sale that focused on food and drink was billed as “The Canonical Text in Bartending”.
Savoy cocktail book from 1930 makes rare appearance at auction
16 August 2021Bid to £1500 in a Norfolk sale was a 1930 first of The Savoy Cocktail Book.
British and Irish book auctions: August 17-September 3, 2021
16 August 2021Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.
Rare copy of pioneering black poet Phillis Wheatley's work makes £16,500 at Cotswolds auction
09 August 2021Edition marked the first time a person of African descent had work published
Signal book of naval ships brings bidders to Shrewsbury sale
09 August 2021Illustrated with 76 hand-coloured flags, a 1794 Signal Book for the Ships of the Line sold to an online bidder for £11,000 in a Shrewsbury sale.